Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Quad Cities, IA

May 8, 1988Louisa County, Muscatine County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1988, 3:08 PM CDT for Louisa County, Muscatine County, Iowa. It was in force for 37 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 1988, 3:08 PM CDT (20:08 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1988, 3:45 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Louisa County, IA, Muscatine County, IA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 8, 3:10 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Muscatine, IA
May 8, 3:20 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Muscatine, IA

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Peoria Regional, IL (KPIA), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 153 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1404 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 194 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMLI 082008 RRA
TORMLI
IAC139-115-082045-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOLINE IL
308 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 345 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE EXTREME EAST PART OF IOWA
      WESTERN MUSCATINE...NORTHWEST LOUISA

AT 300PM CDT...RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN EASTERN
WASHINGTON COUNTY IOWA NEAR AINSWORTH..20 MILES S OF IOWA
CITY.

THE TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

IF TIME PERMITS..ASK THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO RELAY
YOUR REPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

FOBERT

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 8, 1:17 PM CDT, 1 hour 51 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOLINE ILLINOIS
115 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988

...THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING THE QUAD-CITIES...

A 20 MILE WIDE LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED
OVER EXTREME EASTERN IOWA ABOUT 20 MILES WEST OF THE QUAD-CITIES.

THE LINE EXTENDED FROM NEAR DUBUQUE THROUGH MUSCATINE TO AROUND
BURLINGTON IN EASTERN IOWA. THE LINE WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 MILES
AN HOUR AND WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THE QUAD-CITY AREA BY 2PM.

A SECOND LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS..SOME SEVERE..EXTENDED FROM
WATERLOO TO NEAR OTTUMWA. THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL REACH THE QUAD
CITIES LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

FOBERT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 12:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Jones	62 min
May 8, 2:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Cedar	35 min
May 8, 3:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Jones	47 min
May 8, 3:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque	48 min
May 8, 3:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Cedar, Muscatine	41 min
May 8, 3:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Henry, Louisa	41 min
May 8, 3:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Scott	34 min
May 8, 3:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Clinton	42 min
May 8, 4:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton, Scott	26 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes in 1988

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.